Harold had been so focused on Natalie just now that he honestly hadn't noticed the puppy. His eyes lit up when he saw the puppy. "You really take good care of your dog! Her fur is so shiny and soft." He'd always had a soft spot for cute things. "Does she bite? Can I pet him?" The moment Lucky was mentioned, Natalie started watching Harold closely. It wasn't that she didn't trust Harold, but times were rough, and too many people were after dogs these days. She couldn't afford to let her guard down. To Natalie, Lucky wasn't just a pet anymore—she was her only family left. She kept an eye on Harold's expression, but he didn't seem suspicious at all. He gently scratched Lucky's head, and the little one didn't pull away. That put Natalie at ease. She called Lucky and headed home. She figured Harold probably hadn't gone hungry yet, so seeing her dog didn't give him any bad ideas. Natalie brought the fabric back to her place and started looking for snacks. Harold was still waiting at her door, totally trusting she wouldn't just take the fabric and vanish. Inside, Natalie stared at her stash of snacks, unsure what to give him. How am I supposed to trade snacks for something worth over 700,000 dollars? What am I even supposed to pack for him? She actually had way more than 700,000 dollars' worth of snacks in her inventory, but if she took out too much at once, people would get suspicious. Even before the disaster, hardly anyone kept that many snacks at home. Now that it was the apocalypse, bringing out that many snacks would be way too flashy. It was one thing for people to know she was well-stocked, but if anyone started thinking she'd seen the apocalypse coming—or, worse, that she had some sort of special storage power—it would be a disaster. Based on what she observed, Harold was pretty imaginative person. He'd probably read a lot of apocalypse stories. If she wasn't careful, he might figure out her secret. She had to play it safe. Besides, food didn't cost the same anymore. People would trade a whole gold bracelet just for two bags of oatmeal. She figured it was safest to just give him a reasonable amount of everything. With that in mind, Natalie found a big cardboard box and started packing it with snacks. Potato chips, spicy meat sticks, popcorn, cheese wafers, peanuts, pretzels, gummies—she threw a few bags of each inside.Does instant oatmeal count as a snack? She wasn't sure, but there was space left in the box, so she added two boxes of oatmeal too. After she was done, she taped up the box and even made a handle out of tape for Harold. When she finished, she added a box of Coke to the haul. Honestly, before the disaster, this stuff might have been worth a few hundred bucks at most. Now, trading all that for temperature-regulating fabric worth tens of thousands per yard almost felt criminal. Would Harold think this is enough? Feeling a little uneasy, Natalie lugged the stuff out to the hall. The moment Harold saw her, he came running over with a huge grin. He took the two boxes from Natalie, looking a little embarrassed. "Idol, did you really have to give me so much?" Natalie was a bit thrown off. Was he being sarcastic? But Harold hefted the boxes and said, "If you wait a sec, I can run home and grab you something else. Swapping just one piece of fabric for all this food feels like I'm ripping you off." Natalie was speechless. She could tell he wasn't kidding. She quickly stopped him. "No, it's fine. This is enough!" Harold looked at her and thought, My idol is so generous! "Idol, if my family runs out of snacks again, can I bring more stuff to trade?" Natalie shuddered at the way he kept calling her "Idol." "I'm probably younger than you. Just call me Natalie." "Sure thing, Idol." ...Harold grabbed his stuff and headed off. Natalie called after him. "Hey, aren't you going to check what I packed?" Harold smiled. "No need! If it's snacks, my mom will love them. No way you'd pack a box of rocks for me, right? I trust my idol!" Natalie watched him leave, thinking he really might be a little too optimistic. He was just so upbeat and positive, no matter what happened. Sometimes, she couldn't help but feel cheered up when looking at him. ... Harold made it back up to the top floor with his boxes. Ghania took the boxes from him and asked, "You traded one piece of cloth for all this food?" Even though that girl from fourteenth floor is tough, she definitely isn't the sharpest. In times like this, who would hand over so much good food for just a piece of fabric? Harold said, "You don't get it! She's my idol. She's just that generous and kind! And this isn't just any fabric, it's high-tech material." "I don't care if it's high-tech or low-tech. If it gets us good food, it's good tech in my book." Ghania started cutting open a box with scissors. "Oh my gosh! Look at all this good stuff!" She tore open a bag of spicy meat sticks and started munching away. "Seriously, you hoarded all that dry food, but you didn't think to stock up on spicy meat sticks?"